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Cryobot
A cryobot or Philberth-probe is a robot that can penetrate water ice. A cryobot uses heat to melt the ice, and gravity to sink downward. Features and technology The cryobot is a surface-controlled instrumented vehicle desired to penetrate polar ice sheets down to by melting. If built, it would likely measure temperature, stress, ice movement, and seismic, acoustic and dielectric properties. Such concept could also be used for other investigations with remote instrumentation. The general concept uses a hot point for melt penetration, instrumentation for control and measurement functions, supply conductor coils to link the probe with the surface for transmission of power and measurement signals. History The cryobot was invented by German physicist Karl Philberth, who first demonstrated it in the 1960s as part of the International Glaciological Greenland Expedition (EGIG), achieving drilling depths in excess of . In 1973 British scientists in Antarctica performed airborne ice-p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spindle (vehicle)
SPINDLE (Sub-glacial Polar Ice Navigation, Descent, and Lake Exploration) is a 2-stage autonomous vehicle system consisting of a robotic ice-penetrating carrier vehicle ( cryobot) and an autonomous submersible HAUV (hovering autonomous underwater vehicle). The cryobot is designed to descend through an ice body into a sub-surface ocean and deploy the HAUV submersible to conduct long range reconnaissance, life search, and sample collection. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philberth
Bernhard Josef Philberth (26 March 1927 in Traunstein, Germany – 8 August 2010 in Melbourne) was an independent physicist, engineer and philosopher. He was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1972. Biography Philberth was a member of the Academy of Science of Chieti (Italy), the Academy of Sciences of Besançon(France; where he was the first German to be accepted in a century), the Physical Society of Japan in Tokyo and the International Glaciological Society in London. He was the originator of a project in the 1960s to investigate the disposal of radioactive waste deep inside stable, inland ice sheets (presented by the French High Commissioner for Nuclear Energy). His brother, Prof Karl Philberth headed the thermal drilling program of the International Glaciological Greenland Expedition (EGIG) as part of the project. In relativity physics, Philberth discovered the "time gradient" ("Zeitgradient" in German) (presented by Louis de Broglie), and the relationship between the electr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; however, with its larger volume, Saturn is over 95 times more massive. Saturn's interior is most likely composed of a core of iron–nickel and rock (silicon and oxygen compounds). Its core is surrounded by a deep layer of metallic hydrogen, an intermediate layer of liquid hydrogen and liquid helium, and finally, a gaseous outer layer. Saturn has a pale yellow hue due to ammonia crystals in its upper atmosphere. An electrical current within the metallic hydrogen layer is thought to give rise to Saturn's planetary magnetic field, which is weaker than Earth's, but which has a magnetic moment 580 times that of Earth due to Saturn's larger size. Saturn's magnetic field strength is around one-twentieth of Jupiter's. The outer atmosphere is g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator
A radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG, RITEG), sometimes referred to as a radioisotope power system (RPS), is a type of nuclear battery that uses an array of thermocouples to convert the heat released by the decay of a suitable radioactive material into electricity by the Seebeck effect. This type of generator has no moving parts. RTGs have been used as power sources in satellites, space probes, and uncrewed remote facilities such as a series of lighthouses built by the Soviet Union inside the Arctic Circle. RTGs are usually the most desirable power source for unmaintained situations that need a few hundred watts (or less) of power for durations too long for fuel cells, batteries, or generators to provide economically, and in places where solar cells are not practical. Safe use of RTGs requires containment of the radioisotopes long after the productive life of the unit. The expense of RTGs tends to limit their use to niche applications in rare or special situations. Beca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
IceMole
IceMole is an autonomous ice research probe, incorporating a new type of ice-melting tip for the exploration of polar regions, glaciers, ice sheets, and extraterrestrial regions, developed by a team from the FH Aachen, a Fachhochschule (university of applied sciences) in Aachen, Germany. The advantage over previous probes is that the IceMole can change its direction and can be recovered after being used. A driving ice screw allows the probe to drill through soil layers and other contaminations in the ice. History The IceMole is being developed using rapid prototyping. , the probe is in its first prototype and it has been designed to carry out the subsurface investigation of terrestrial glaciers and ice sheets. It is planned that future versions of the probe would be suitably adapted for extraterrestrial ice research, e.g. on the polar caps of Mars, the Jovian moon of Europa, or Saturn's moon Enceladus. The robot resulted from a student project at the Fachbereich Luft- und Raumfah ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
DEPTHX
The Deep Phreatic Thermal Explorer (DEPTHX) is an autonomous underwater vehicle designed and built by Stone Aerospace, an aerospace engineering firm based in Austin, Texas. It was designed to autonomously explore and map underwater sinkholes in northern Mexico, as well as collect water and wall core samples. This could be achieved via an autonomous form of navigation known as A-Navigation. The DEPTHX vehicle was the first of three vehicles to be built by Stone Aerospace which were funded by NASA with the goal of developing technology that can explore the oceans of Jupiter's moon Europa to look for extraterrestrial life. DEPTHX was a collaborative project for which Stone Aerospace was the principal investigator. Co-investigators included Carnegie Mellon University, which was responsible for the navigation and guidance software, the Southwest Research Institute, which built the vehicle's science payload, and research scientists from the University of Texas at Austin, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BRUIE
BRUIE (Buoyant Rover for Under-Ice Exploration) is an autonomous underwater vehicle prototype by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The prototype began underwater testing in 2012 and it is meant to eventually explore the interior of water worlds in the Solar System, such as Europa or Enceladus. Overview On Earth, aquatic life is often found at the ice-water interface, so researchers designed the robotic rover to be buoyant and use its two wheels ( each) to roll along beneath the ice and look for life or their biosignatures. Scientists can also learn a lot from the topography of the underside of the ice, including how the ice forms. And the ice can act as a trap for gases, either from biological or geological processes. The first BRUIE prototype began testing in 2012 in an Arctic lake in Alaska, and in Antarctica in 2019. The principal investigator is Andy Klesh at JPL; the co-investigators are Kevin Hand, Dan Berisford, John Leichty and Josh Schoolcraft. Astrobiologist Kevin Ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Autonomous Underwater Vehicle
An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is a robot that travels underwater without requiring input from an operator. AUVs constitute part of a larger group of undersea systems known as unmanned underwater vehicles, a classification that includes non-autonomous remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) – controlled and powered from the surface by an operator/pilot via an umbilical or using remote control. In military applications an AUV is more often referred to as an unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV). Underwater gliders are a subclass of AUVs. History The first AUV was developed at the Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington as early as 1957 by Stan Murphy, Bob Francois and later on, Terry Ewart. The "Special Purpose Underwater Research Vehicle", or SPURV, was used to study diffusion, acoustic transmission, and submarine wakes. Other early AUVs were developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1970s. One of these is on display in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
